Christmas week was a little unusual for us; we didn’t have our normal schedule of preparing and teaching classes, and most of the activities with which we fill our time were on hold. Although the young missionaries are still working as usual, we senior missionaries have a lot more flexibility… so we decided to head east to Arizona, where Pepper’s sister Jeanele lives.
Here in the Valley, people talk often of going to Yuma for shopping or just an evening getaway. The drive is less than an hour, and it’s a bigger city than El Centro, so I guess there’s some appeal. We don’t know much about it, as we haven’t been there, but since we’d pass right through it we timed our trip to have lunch in town. We found a little Italian restaurant that was quite good.
Here’s proof we were actually in Yuma:
Continuing east, we drove another three hours or so to the Phoenix area. The weather there was pretty much the same as ours, so it didn’t even feel like much of an adjustment to be in sunny Arizona for the holiday week! It meant Dave and I could go on a desert bike ride, which was a ton of fun.
While we were gone, Pepper “got her hair done” (whatever that means). You can sure tell these two are sisters, can’t you?
We enjoyed a bunch of board games, including the classic Skull King.
Potbelly is my second-favorite sandwich chain, and I was excited to learn there’s one right down the street! We all enjoyed lunch there.
Because most of Dave and Jeanele’s kids live within a ten-mile radius, there’s always something to do with our nieces, nephews, and their kids.
One of our grand-nephews (is that a thing?) had a birthday so of course there was a big party. I did the math– based on the size of the family in that ten-mile radius– and there’s a birthday celebration for someone almost every week!
It was great to spend a few days with family, and take a brief break from our “mission life”. But it’ll also be great to return home and prepare for the new year and the new adventures it brings.